Hilaire Hiler

(1898 - 1966)

Throughout his career, Hilaire Hiler was fascinated by color, design, and abstraction. His early work – from his time in Paris in the 1920's – was primitivistic and semi-abstract in style. In the 1930's, he experimented with Native American themes, though his work became increasingly abstract over time. By the 1940's, he was moving into the style of work for which he is best-known, a style which Hiler termed “Structuralism.” Hiler’s theory of Structuralism embodied a kind of “scientific analysis of color-form," as it was described by the art critic and theorist Waldemar George.

Hilaire Hiler Throughout his career, Hilaire Hiler was fascinated by color, design, and abstraction. His early work – from his time in Paris in the 1920's – was primitivistic and semi-abstract in style. In the 1930's, he experimented with Native American themes, though his work became increasingly abstract over time. By the 1940's, he was moving into the style of work for which he is best-known, a style which Hiler termed “Structuralism.” Hiler’s theory of Structuralism embodied a kind of “scientific analysis of color-form," as it was described by the art critic and theorist Waldemar George.